{"id":1127,"date":"2025-02-18T14:38:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/?p=1127"},"modified":"2025-02-18T14:38:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:38:31","slug":"guide-lean-coffee-my-beloved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/guide-lean-coffee-my-beloved\/","title":{"rendered":"2. Lean Coffee, my beloved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>[This post is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/corinnas-guide-to-facilitating-retrospectives\/\">Corinna&#8217;s Guide to Facilitating Retrospectives<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, I talked about <a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/guide-what-is-a-retrospective\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1096\">what a retrospective is and isn&#8217;t<\/a>. Before we look at a concrete plan for a retro in next week\u2019s post, I\u2019d like to focus on just a part of that overall plan. A single method that I use all. the. time. Not just in retrospectives, in all kinds of meetings. It\u2019s so versatile, it\u2019s almost like magic \u2013 one of my all time favorite facilitation methods:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Timeboxed Lean Coffee<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s it for, you ask? Excellent question!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whenever you find yourself in a meeting without an agenda or clear topic, you can use Lean Coffee to create a prioritized list of topics in minutes. Time you easily gain back by staying relevant and fewer people zoning out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Lean Coffee you make sure you&#8217;re talking about things that the majority of people care about. With time boxes you make sure that the more outspoken people cannot keep a topic going that most participants have lost interest in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Here\u2019s how it works<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1) Collect Topics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Everyone needs sticky notes and a pen<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You each <strong>write down the topics <\/strong>you would like to talk about \u2013 one topic per sticky note<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Going around the group, everybody puts their stickies up on a board and reads out their topic(s). Cluster stickies that are about the same topic. If there is disagreement about whether something is the same topic, don\u2019t enter a discussion just leave them as separate votable topics. When in doubt, don\u2019t cluster.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2) Prioritize<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Time to <strong>dot vote<\/strong>: People vote on the issues they would like to discuss by marking their 3 favorite topics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Order the stickies by number of votes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Boooyaa, there\u2019s your prioritized agenda \u2013 reflecting interest in the topics \\o\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3) Talk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start discussing the top-voted topic. In the original description on LeanCoffee.org, you switch to the second topic, when the discussion peters out, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I always time box the discussions to make sure that no subgroup of people argues or rambles on forever about the same topic while everybody else is slowly falling asleep. My default time limits are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer beeps, everyone gives a quick thumbs up or down. Majority of thumbs up: The topic gets another 5 minutes. Majority of thumbs down: Start the next topic with 10 minutes on the clock.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If applicable: Before you change the topic, write down any decision, todos, and the like<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stop when the total meeting time is up<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Adjust these time limits to your context! If I know that a topic is highly controversial, I start with more time right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a side effect, this method teaches two different ways of voting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Dot vote <\/strong>&#8211; a fast way to choose between many options<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Roman vote\/Gladiator vote<\/strong> &#8211; a quick way to decide Yes or No for a specific choice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>They are absolute facilitation basics that every team should know for less aimless talking and faster decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wall-skills.com\/2013\/lean-coffee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"596\" height=\"842\" data-id=\"1129\"  src=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lean-Coffee_Wall-Skills1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lean-Coffee_Wall-Skills1.png 596w, https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lean-Coffee_Wall-Skills1-212x300.png 212w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wall-skills.com\/2015\/ways-to-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"596\" height=\"842\" data-id=\"1130\"  src=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ways-to-Vote_Wall-Skills.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1130\" srcset=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ways-to-Vote_Wall-Skills.png 596w, https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ways-to-Vote_Wall-Skills-212x300.png 212w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Side Note on Turn Taking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In every discussion that you ever facilitate it is hugely beneficial if you introduce turn taking so that people who are comfortable with interrupting others will not bulldoze over those participants who are not. Turn-taking is even more important in remote settings. Raising your hand (either physically or digitally) to indicate that you want to speak and waiting for your turn, knowing that your team members will let you speak \u2013 that is a gamechanger. Going from the <a href=\"https:\/\/chelseatroy.com\/2018\/03\/29\/why-do-remote-meetings-suck-so-much\/\">chaos of caucus<\/a> to taking turns is simple and powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a minute: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Are your team members already taking turns or are some voices crowded out?<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Can you think of a meeting you regularly attend that would benefit from Lean Coffee? Or Dot Voting? <\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>How can you introduce what&#8217;s missing?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I can&#8217;t wait for next week, when we&#8217;ll work through a <a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/best-retrospective-for-beginners\/\">specific plan to run a retrospective<\/a> <em>*excited*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cheers from Germany,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corinna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PS: Most of this email is an excerpt from my <strong>free ebook <\/strong>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/leanpub.com\/facilitation-is-a-team-sport\">Facilitation is a Team Sport<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PPS: A word on <strong>time keeping<\/strong>: If you are co-located, <strong>invest in a Time Timer<\/strong>. It\u2019s an egg timer on steroids. It\u2019s the clearest and easiest way to countdown time I\u2019ve found so far. They are pricey (last I checked, about 60$) and they are worth every cent!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"151\" src=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/TimeTimer.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-614\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s super easy to set the time (you pull out the red disk) and it\u2019s highly visible. Everybody is aware of how much time is left. Really helps with (self-)discipline. When the time is up, it beeps and nobody needs to be the bad guy that interrupts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re remote, check out the tools you are using for their time keeping features, e. g. I use the timer in Miro. Timers are also available in Mural and Conceptboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><h3><strong>PS: If you'd rather read this <a href=\"https:\/\/leanpub.com\/guidetoretrospectives\" target=\"_blank\">Guide as an ebook, click here.<\/a> Or go all in and get it as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/leanpub.com\/b\/retromat-bundle-agile-retrospectives\" target=\"_blank\">Retromat eBook Bundle<\/a> at a discount. A purchase also supports Retromat as a whole \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/h3><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[This post is part of Corinna&#8217;s Guide to Facilitating Retrospectives] Hi there! Last week, I talked about what a retrospective is and isn&#8217;t. Before we look at a concrete plan for a retro in next week\u2019s post, I\u2019d like to focus on just a part of that overall plan. A single method that I use &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/guide-lean-coffee-my-beloved\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;2. Lean Coffee, my beloved&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1127"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1134,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127\/revisions\/1134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}